Roman general and
statesman Gaius Julius Caesar was energetic, intelligent, and generous.

Image Above

Green basanite [quartz] bust of
Julius Caesar. And the British Museum comments:

This portrait is most likely
an image of Caesar made fifty years or more after his murder
in 44 BC. The stone is from Wadi Hamamat in Upper Egypt, and
the facial structure, with high cheekbones and prominent
chin, is reminiscent of many Egyptian portraits.

British Museum London

The Russian word czar and
the German word kaiser derive from Julius Caesar's name.

As it was
common and accepted in his culture, Caesar was a lover of both
genders.

Julius Caesar's
Life: 100-75 B.C.

Julius was born into a misgoverned and chaotic Rome, its streets
filled with revolutions and massacres. Julius's father, Gaius Caesar, died when Julius was 16 years old.
His mother's name was Aurelia. Julius decided upon a political
career. In the year 84 B.C. Julius married Cornelia. Because Cornelia's
folks were known as political radicals, Julius was pressured to
divorce her. He refused and thought it would be a good idea to leave
Italy for a while. In the year 78 Julius came back to Rome and
resumed his political career as a lawyer. He also studied oratory
and became an excellent public speaker.

Julius Caesar
and the Pirates

Julius was a man of enormous pride and courage. One day, while on his way to
Rhodes to study oratory, Julius was captured by pirates. Julius was
outraged by the low ransom the pirates demanded for his life. So, he
made them raise the amount of the ransom and told them that he, once
set free, would return to kill them all. And so he did.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar's
Life: 74-59 B.C.

Rome was at odds with Mithradates, king of Portus. Both factions desired domination
over Asia Minor. When Rome was going to annex Bythantia,
Mithradates started the Third Mithradatic War in 74 B.C. Julius drummed up a private
army and joined the fight. The war lasted until the year
63 B.C.

Cornelia died in the year 69 B.C.
(or in the year 68 B.C., thanks CP for
pointing this out!) and
Julius moved on and married Pompeia.

In the year 68 B.C., Julius was
elected Quaestor of
Farther Spain. His career took off and in 65 B.C. he was elected as
one of the Curule
Aediles, and in 63 B.C. he was elected
Pontifex
Maximus.

Julius was on the roll and in 62
B.C. he was elected Praetor. In the same year he divorced Pompeia. Good things kept
coming Julius's way and in the year 61 B.C. he was made Governor of
Farther Spain and formed with Pompey and Crassus
the First Triumvirate.

Up the career ladder, Julius was
made consul in the year 59 B.C. Also in the year 59 B.C. he
married Calpurnia.

Julius Caesar was a member of the First Triumvirate. However, this political agreement
failed him and so did his net of supporters in Rome. In
December 50 BC, Senate demanded that Caesar should lay down
his command.

Caesar had other plans.

By Roman law a general and his
army was not allowed to cross the borders out of
his assigned province into the Roman Republic. Julius
Caesar was ready to revise this custom, and on January 10,
49 BC, he crossed the tiny river Rubicon with his troops,
heading for Rome.

As expected, Rome saw this as an act of aggression
and the Roman Civil War begun.

Caesar drove Pompeius (Pompey) out of
Italy, conquered his enemy's forces in Spain by means of his
Campaign of Ilerda, and then passed
into Greece, where Pompeius and the other aristocratic
chiefs had assembled a large army.

Pompeius fled for refuge to Alexandria, where he was assassinated. Caesar, who had followed him,
got involved in a war with the Egyptians, in which he was finally
victorious.

The celebrated Cleopatra was made Queen of Egypt
and in the year 48 B.C. while in Alexandria, Egypt, Julius Caesar
and Cleopatra became real good friends.

In 47 BC, Caesar marched into Pontus,
and defeated the son of Mithridates,
Pharnaces II, who had taken part in the war against him
at the Battle of Zela.

He then went back to Rome and
afterwards proceeded to the Roman
province of Africa, where some of the Pompeian chiefs had
established themselves, aided by Juba, a native
prince.

In 46 BC, Caesar overthrew them at the Battle of Thapsus
and went back home to Rome. He was again obliged to lead an army into Spain, where the
sons of Pompeius had collected the wrecks of their father's
party.

On March 17, 45 BC, Caesar crushed the last of his
enemies at the
Battle of Munda, which ended the Civil War.

Julius won the Roman Civil War and
became ruler of the Roman Republic in the fashion of dictator.

Julius Caesar's
Assassination, Death & Legacy

A conspiracy among several aristocrats
resulted in the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar. He was stabbed
to death on the Ides of
March (March 15) 44 B.C. in the Senate House.

After Julius's assassination, his nephew
and adopted son Augustus Caesar (Gaius Octavius) became the first Roman Emperor. Not
until after Augustus's death succeeding Roman rulers named themselves
Caesar and used it as a title.

Cæsar was used as a title of emperors
down to Hadrian, who died in 138 A.D.

After Julius' death, the Civil wars are soon renewed, Brutus
and Cassius being at the head of the aristocratic party, and
the party of Caesar being led by Mark Antony and Octavianus
Caesar, afterwards Augustus.

Then in 42 BC - the defeat and
death of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. Dissensions soon
break out between Octavianus Caesar and Antony.

Julius Caesar's
Children

Julius had a daughter named Julia
by Cornelia. He also had a son named Caesarion (the later
Ptolemy XV) by Cleopatra VII.

The Bellum Alexandrinium, on the wars of 47 BC,
De bello Africo, and De bello
Hispaniensi are all anonymous but contemporary with Caesar and
usually included with his works.

Julius Caesar Quoted

“Veni, vidi, vici” ("I came, I saw, I conquered") is Julius's
description of the short Battle of Zela, which he fought against a local king in
Anatolia in 47 B.C.

"Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?") were Caesar's famous last words
when he realized that his close companion was involved in the plot
to assassinate him.Please note - this is a legendary quote, which means Caesar
probably didn't actually say these exact words. But Shakespeare
decided he did. See Act 3, Scene I, of Julius Caesar. Thanks
John for your request to clarify this!